Miyako
by Arroja
Summary: My 2nd FF Fic. Miyako Sudo is in search of her lost surveyor boyfriend, lost for ten days after a search party failed to find him. This is her POV. DONE!
1. Brave Heart

Chapter One: Brave Heart

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A chilly wisp of air combed through my hair and forced chills to rise up and down my spine, spreading to places beyond there. I tugged at the bottom of my skirt in a false hope that it'd cover my thighs and further down my legs but it was way too short. I unrolled the sleeves of my white long-sleeved top to cover over my bumpy arms and buttoned up the last button of the top. I was aware of what this village held in its rumors and what went on, or is still going on. This village, All God's Village, was bound in an eternal night of terror and a festival that relives itself with each passing day. I inhaled a brave breath and held tight onto the strap of my black backpack and watched the village, my courage and confidence hanging on a thing thread, from Misono Hill. The hill towered over the fogged village and smoky mountains and trees. The view would have been extravagant if the village alive. I looked into the saddened dark gray sky and saw that the clouds held sorrow. Tears awaited to burst from the dark clouds in the sky. Sun was nonexistent here, it seemed, and all life was drained away from all living things that surrounded this small village.

"Masumi..." I whispered to myself. I turned and looked at the broken Shinto gate half hidden in the shadows of the bushes behind the stone pillars. My only entrance, and my exit. I was afraid that I'd never come out alive. That I'd never hear from my love again. 'I'm here so I might as well proceed.' I took small steps down the hill and down a winding trail towards the village.

_'Did I love him this much to just run off in search of him so suddenly? No, why am I doubting myself; thinking like this?'_ I felt my heart start to race the closer I approached the village. I was so scared that my focus was as steady as my shaking hand. I neared the village entrance and heard distant voices. Men voices, calling for something, someone. "Masumi!" Excited, I ran to the end of the path that ran into an intersection. Nothing. "What was that?" I looked around, down the small dirt road to my left and right. No one was here except me...and Masumi. I dug in my black bag for my flashlight and observed the old ruins of the houses more closely. I flicked it on and the beam tore through the dark fog like a hot knife through butter.

The remains of these houses were still sturdy and standing. The wood was mostly water-based damaged; maybe from the fog and dampness in the air. I went a little down the road to my left with my light. Small sounds came from the ruins of the old house. I contemplated on what it possibly could have been. Spinning off to my right, I flashed my light in the open house. Piles of wood and broken sliding doors littered the floor inside. Something caught the corner of my eye, like a bright red spot near a corner, further back into the room. I moved closer to get a better look. I leaned in and I heard the sound again but somewhere else. Something moved a ways down the road on the right of me and I turned to try and catch it. Was I hallucinating or was it really someone here? I turned back to the inside of the house and saw nothing of what was there before. I swallowed my heart back into my chest and went back to the road out of the village; I'd lost my nerve. As I passed a statue at the base of the path that led to the top of the hill, I noticed something that I didn't acknowledge until now. The lantern that I passed earlier in front of the nearest house was lit. I hadn't remembered it lit or even being there.

This raised questions in my head and I now had more wit than I had before, my courage slowly rebuilt its' self the more curious I became. I turned and went back to the lantern and reached out to touch it. I pulled back when I saw what looked like a window behind the wooden planks along side of the house. I tried to peek in but I couldn't make out what was inside. Was Masumi in there, waiting for me? Was he hurt? I took in a deep breath and let it out. My hands were visibly shaking and my heart's rapid beat was audible. I touched the cool brass of the door's handle and it budged. I pushed open the door and ventured inside.


	2. Demon Tag In The Osaka House

Chapter Two: Demon Tag in the Osaka House

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The loud moan of the door was enough to shatter the silence completely. I'd entered what seemed to me like an entrance room right before you reach the main room. A large urn sat unused for ages near me along with others of various sizes. The cold musty air breathed against my face from a nearby window. I observed the small space, examining the fallen planks leaned lazily against the wall. I shone my light through the wooden bars off to the left of the room. Inside, a dusty looking kimono was hanging in front of a door. Another hung near the window I tried to look through from the outside. A small desk and box were also present. I scanned over the room but Masumi wasn't in there. I proceeded through the door in front of me.

The air was so cold and held a rank smell of mildew and molded wood. There was another scent underneath it all. Something I couldn't quite get but it was there, faint and discreet. The air gave my skin goose bumps and sent shivers over my body. I was armed with my iron wit and a flashlight. I was determined to find Masumi here in this village, starting here. I rubbed over my bumpy skin to run away the feeling of them, hoping the invisible chill that coated my skin would dissipate with them.

I shone my light over everything that could grab an area of light, even the ceiling. I wanted to become familiar with this place in case I was to get lost. The gray wood made up most of the presentational colors. Pale-yellowed, aged paper partition screens were dotted with holes eaten through them in corners of the room. The looked as if they were once beautiful works, like an aged maiden, striking in her younger years and still held beauty after some time passed. The brown had faded from most of the wooden structures in the house, giving it an even older look. I shone my light down a tight hallway straight down from here. A tattered curtain hung with a sort of symbol on it. Family crest, maybe? It looked like it didn't end there. Should I start here?

I took small steps further into the room, careful not to miss anything. I saw that there was a staircase way over on the wall far to my left. It looked old and rundown; almost too old to be used. An older fireplace, blackened from age and use, sat in the middle of the room and another big screen seemed to make a door to some room almost invisible.

Maybe I should start here? I stepped up and the squeaks of the floorboards were so loud in the dead, for lack of better words, silence of the house. I shone my light around the big room again. Frayed pieces of cloth and ropes hung from the ceiling beams. My eyes wandered over back to the stairs and my eyes caught a glimpse of a door, the color of cinnamon, on the second floor behind a small banister.

I turned to the screen placed against the stairs to my right and stared at the wall for a moment. It was a hidden door, concealed from the eye if you overlooked it. Obvious to a more careful eye. I walked up to it and took its handle. It moved. I slid it to one side. More cold air came from the room, like a long chilly sigh, and this time it felt as if someone was here with me. I turned slightly to each side of me then went into the room.

Light shone through an open door, or large window. It wasn't much light, just a faded light, enough to maneuver in. A door that seemed to lead out to a garden was wide open. I looked closer and saw that the deck was in pretty good shape. I moved and my foot hit something. I gasped slightly and I put my light on it. It was a big box. Colorful cloths hung from it and spilled onto the floor. They looked like traditional kimonos. A shiver ran across my body. I spun to look behind me because it felt as if I were being watched. A big mosquito net divided the other part of the room. A small ranma window was there along with a vase with withered flowers hanging from it. I dared myself to cross the net but something stopped me. I saw something on the floor behind the net that made me think twice.

A figure of some sort was under the sheets of a small futon bed. The figure looked like a human body from how it was curled, on its side. I tried my best to ignore it and continue my search but it raised a vibe through me the closer I got. Some sort of power of force was vibrating from that corner of the room. I couldn't help to think was Masumi under those sheets? Was it even a human body under there or was it my imagination, just a trick of the light. I felt the pumping of my blood in my hands from how hard I was holding the flashlight. I realized my grip and eased down a little. I took the vibrations as a warning and I exited the room without any further hesitation.

The door behind me slid shut and I walked slowly further into the big fireplace room. Small patterings made me turn off to my left as quick as I could, putting me standing directly in front of a little boy. I jumped from his sudden presence and hopped back a few steps from him. He was breathing rather hard, staring with his wide almond-shaped eyes. I didn't think anyone lived in this village anymore. His pale face was locked on mine. I stepped closer and he grinned. It made me pause. "W-what is y-" The boy ran before I could finish the sentence. I could hear his giggle as he disappeared down the hallway. I was making my way after him when I heard something behind me move. Another child was running also. A girl this time. She stopped midway up the stairs and giggled at me. Her round pale face was so bright and happy. Her short black hair was pulled on top of her head, her short hair spouting from the bow like a fountain of black water. She was wearing a purplish-red kimono that stopped short of her pale ankles.

"Can't catch me!" Then she ran up the stairs and down the hall. The laughter of the children made me wonder was there any adults here in this village. Was I just delirious? The laughter stopped. I circled around the fireplace and sat there for a minute, waiting for the children to return. Since I knew there was life here, I felt safe. Pulling out a few contents from my bag, I settled on the floor and began to write...

* * *

"I'm over here!" The child's cry was loud against the silence and made me heart pound in my chest. They had to be real...I was going to find one of them, maybe all of them, and ask them if they've seen a wandering man around here. I stood up and packed my bag and began to make my way down the main hall when I saw something. I focused my eyes in the dim light and saw that it was a little boy peeking from a torn partition screen. He looked different from the boy I saw earlier. His eyes were smaller and his hair was darker, cut closer to his head. I slowly walked towards him and he ran off like the first two did. I ran after him, hoping to catch him. He was laughing as I ran after him.

"You can't catch me!" He taunted and turned and disappeared into a small alcove. I dipped into the small alcove and was encountered by a small flight of stairs. The pattering of feet over my head was enough evidence that these children were real. I continued up the steps after the little boy. I rounded the corner to find a little walkway and the door that I saw earlier. Over the banister was the view of the fireplace room. I made my way across and in front of the door. I put my ear on the door and listened. It was nearly silent at first but I heard sounds behind the door. It sounded like someone was talking, someone that might have been Masumi. I listened harder. Or was it the wind? I reached for the doorknob but I hesitated for a moment. What if it isn't Masumi?

"He's gotta be here..." I turned the knob but it didn't open. I turned and pushed but it still didn't budge. The large padlock was evident enough to show that the door was locked shut and that I needed a key to enter. I listened again and the sounds stopped. I turned and walked over to the banister and saw the three children below me, staring with suspecting eyes. Small but noticeable smiles grazed each of their lips as they scattered about again.


	3. The Strength To Carry Me Along

Chapter Three

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Was I gonna be a fool and run after them or was I just going to continue looking for Masumi? I wanted to chase them down and question them but what if they didn't know anything was my only problem. I turned right to go down the steps that led to the fireplace room instead of the hallway. The floorboards creaked under my weight as I descended the stairs. I held onto my flashlight and walked cautiously to the entrance door. My hand touched the cool metal and I felt something. I felt so much fear run through me that I started to quiver.

Images of hung twins filled my head and screams of terror rained around me. Blood-washed walls and an ocean of people, bodies, lying face-down surrounded me. I heard the high pitched laughter of a woman echo throughout my head. Her pale face was shadowed with insanity and traces of sorrow but her wild smile was pure evil. Her shoulders shook with her laughter, the terrified faces of her victims remained in a permanent scream, frozen with death. Something had me attached to this house. Something wanted me to stay here, but I couldn't. I wouldn't. I gripped the doorknob and pulled hard. It budged only a little and I pulled harder. It felt as if someone was holding the door from the other side.

I only pulled because I wanted to get out of this house. I finally got the door open wide enough to where I could slip through and I left. The doors slammed shut behind me and I looked around. Nothing changed about this village from that night to this day and nothing probably ever will. I took steps left towards the main road with my flashlight in hand and my bag strapped to my back. I'd only brung a few old notebooks to record what I found, in case I didn't get back to my town, some old news clippings from the newspapers about Masumi and a picture of us, as a good luck charm. I'd already written some stuff in my red notebook about the house I was just in.

I made my way past the big abandoned house and I saw a smaller road to the right. I debated on whether to turn or keep straight. I shone the light in front of me. There was an entrance to another house, a bigger one than the one I'd just exited. I became skeptical about whether I wanted to explore a house that size alone. I took the turn and walked down the road alongside the bigger house instead of going straight. An overhead bridge was in the middle of the two biggest houses in the village. I stepped down the stone steps and I heard someone behind me. "Masumi?" I flashed the light up and around but found no traces of where the sound had come from. I continued down the steps to see a big double-door ahead. Two garden lanterns about my height burned with a dim light on either side of the door. The flames looked as tired as I suddenly felt.

"I wonder where this leads to..." I pushed the doors and they moved. I pushed harder and beyond them was a misty lake; an old wooden bridge was the only way across. I made my way across the steamy waters, eyeing my surroundings. It felt so cold as I neared the middle of the bridge. Something told me to look to my right and I did so. A thick patch of fog settled on the still waters of the lake. It seemed to move faster across the water than the rest of the fog. I stepped up and my foot broke through a small hole in the old bridge. "Damn..." The old wood bit into my ankle through the leather of my boot.

I gripped the railing and pulled but something pulled against me. The grip was icy cold around my ankle. It couldn't have been the water… "It's so cold." I closed my eyes as I pulled and wished I hadn't.

Arms, ghostly, white arms reached toward me but I ran. I ran across the bridge and something blocked my way. A woman in a white blood-stained kimono blocked my path. Her eyes were turned towards the wooden planks of the railing, overlooking the water then a smile curved her lips and she glanced at me. "There's no escape..." Her evil cackle echoed across the water. I turned back the way I came only to be snatched by the arms of Malice. Icy water filled my lungs from trying to scream and the freezing temperature of it was enough to paralyze my muscles. I reached towards the surface, reaching for a way out...but there was no way...

I gasped as if I were struggling for air and pulled my foot from the hole. I picked up my flashlight and something caught my attention out in the lake. A floating figure drifted in the water, inching towards my way. "I-it's so cold..." She whimpered. Her words chattering from her dead mouth. I turned behind me and saw the drowned woman floating above me. I yelped and she disappeared into the lake moments after. I didn't wait for her next appearance.

I reached the opposite side of the bridge and came in front of big gate doors symbolized with a big red butterfly. I pushed the doors and shut them behind me. The mist had bled through the ground walls and into this yard. A giant mansion was hidden behind the mist. It was a beautiful, but haunting sight and bigger than the ones in the village. Maybe whoever owned this mansion was the chief of the village?

The flashlight's beam was carried by the droplets in the fog and I had a better view of what was in the yard. An old peony tree was at the far right, fenced in with a few garden lanterns and grass. The gravel in the yard was dotted with small blood-red blossoms and patches of brown-green grass. I looked closer at the gravel and it was small white and peach river stones, a luxury I suppose. I walked towards the entrance doors and looked back. The yard was dark and only slivers of silver light shone through the thick gray clouds in the sky. I was driven by my determination and bravery, or what I had left of it, and the love for Masumi to go into this haunted village in search of him. I was called insane, stupid, and blind, but if we happened to both get out alive, I'd prove them wrong; I'd show them that what I did was worth it. The doors and what was beyond it pulled at my curiosity like it was on a thread. I undid the latch on the door and stepped through. I was prepared, mentally, for what was ahead.


	4. By My Side Now

Chapter Four

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Wind blew from behind the old, torn curtains that hung in front of the main hallway. It was freezing cold and the air held trapped moisture and made my face and bare parts of my body feel clammy. The air blew across my cheeks and down my back, flowing in and out of my hair and garments freely. Here, I was. I took steps further but my light began to fade. The light was flickering from the flashlight, showing signs that it might not make it through the house. "No...not here, please not now..." I hit the flashlight across my leg a few times to stop it from flickering. That seemed to make it worse. The flickering stopped and left me alone in the dark. The doors behind me slammed shut and I heard the lock fall into place. "This...this isn't happening..." I muttered to myself. I ran and kicked at the door, forcing it to open its' self back up.

"Miyako!" The voice was so close by...

"Masumi! Is that you?" I threw down the blown flashlight and ran towards the doors at the end of the hall.

"Miyako, it's me. I'm here!" I turned back and looked around. I was puzzled; he sounded like he was just a few feet from me but I couldn't see him.

"Masumi, where are you?"

"I'm up here, Miyako. Come to the entrance and look up!" I ran back to the entrance and looked up. He was leaning over the railing in a dim-lit room, smiling down on me.

"Masumi!" I couldn't help but smile from ear-to-ear and feel the familiar flutter of my heart in my chest. He was alive! Also, here in this very house with me! "Where are you?" I looked back up and he was gone.

"No...Oh…no." I ran to one of the doors at the end of the hall and stopped. Which one led to him? I took the one on the right, just out of instinct. The room was piled on one side with boxes and a few old kimonos hung on the opposite wall. Someone was behind the door to the right, further into the room. I ran to it and grabbed the doorknob and someone ran into the hallway, laughing. The torn curtain wavered from their passing. The laughter sounded like that of a small child. Maybe people were living here still. No...Can't be. It must be ghosts. I ducked under the now still curtain to see what was behind it. A winding hall was lit with a few candles, giving the halls some life.

"I'm here!" I paused and held my breath. Someone was nearby. The pattering of feet on the floor was loud in the stillness of the air. A child, about waist-high to me, ran across the hall and disappeared behind the wall. I gasped and leaned onto the opposite side. Another child ran just past me as I leaned onto the wall as far as I could go. I ran from behind the curtain and ran into what felt like something solid; something that wasn't there before. A person? I screamed and fought against the arms that wrapped around me.

"Calm down, Miyako. It's just me." I stopped and looked up to that soothing voice I knew so well. The sight of his face was like some sort of dream. It was also a relief, that he was well and alive.

"I'm so happy that I found you!" I hugged him tight against me. He was warm, so warm against my cold skin. I could have stood there oblivious to everything with Masumi in my arms forever.

His lips kissed the top of my head and he held me closer. "Me too. I guess this is what it feels like to be reunited after so long...You have no idea how much I've missed you, Miyako." I smiled. He had no idea how much I missed him. "Now that we've found each other," He said as he pulled away. "C'mon, we can't stand here forever; we have to find a way out of here." He led me by the hand to the door that I entered through.

"Is your search complete? Did you find anything you were looking for?" I watched the back of his head.

"Yeah, a whole lot of information. All of it was so...capturing. The history of this village is so interesting, yet...it's also strange and occult. I went about the village, recording little notes and turning them into reports, about the shrines and wells, and the houses here." He paused a moment. "It was all so fascinating and scary at the same time, knowing that we're in a haunted old village. I can't wait to write about this..." Seems like he'd forgotten what he was sent here to do...

"I saw a few things myself." I said. We'd stopped in front of the entrance doors. "I-I have bad vibes about this place, y'know. That nothing good ever came from this place. I saw so much bloodshed and the faces of the scared villagers..." I hugged myself. "I never experienced nothing like it. It was like I was there when this village was taken to an eternal hell." Masumi rested his hands on my shoulders.

"Don't worry; I'm here with you now. Nothing to fear, Masumi is here." He smiled and I laughed a little at his attempt to cheer me up. He hugged me and I felt better. "Now, step one, leave the mansion." He grasped the door handles and pulled. "That's strange..." He tugged and heaved but the door didn't budge. "Did you lock these doors when you came in?"

"No, they slammed shut when I walked through. Why?" Something was on the other side of the door, maybe holding it. I felt a presence, faint but there like a wave of heat rising from something hot.

"Because we're locked in...From the outside." He let his arms fall to his sides. "We have to search for another way out."

"Do you know for certain that there is a way out?"

"There has to be. No house that I know has only one exit and entrance; it doesn't make sense. It's either going to be on the side of the house, the back of the house or under the house." He stood there in a stance that was so painfully recognizable, that it made me smile, just knowing that this is Masumi standing in front of me.

"What are thinking about?" I asked as I watched him. His bottom lip was pinched between his thumb and index fingers, the elbow resting on the arm crossed over his abdomen and most of his weight resting on his most dominant leg. I had to smile at it because it was the gesture he used most often whether it's if he's thinking to when he's reading a magazine in a clinic.

"Just a way out. I might know if one exists or if I might have seen it but didn't pay any mind to it." He stood vertically now, one hand resting on his slender hip.

"Well, let's walk and think okay? This place is making me really nervous. Just looking at the condition of this place makes my blood run cold." I grabbed his hand. "No splitting up, please?"

"Okay, no more splitting up. I promise." He kissed the back of my hand. "Now, where do we start?"


	5. Keeping My Sanity

Chapter Five

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We explored for what seemed like hours. Watching each other's backs and steps were exhausting. I felt my stomach roll over with hunger for the fifth time and I just wanted to rest. If I were to slow down, I felt a tug to keep our pace. The mansion seemed to span for acres and the scenery was too eerie to bypass. Torn partition screens, faded scrolls and broken furniture littered some rooms and floors. We'd pass a small book shelf with books that Masumi saw as "resources" but I urged him not to stop for that now, not until we find a way out.

Every so often, he'd turn around to send a smile my way. It took some of the weight from my heart but only for a few seconds or so before I started to realize that we'd never find a way from this place, or from the village. I cursed my mind for thinking such things but I felt that I couldn't help the thoughts that ran free in my head. Masumi seemed to have a better mental coach than I did, just looking at how he navigated the both of us through the halls and rooms made me envious towards his confidence. I stopped when we reached a narrow outdoor staircase to overlook the nearly withered plants below that had long stopped growing.

"What's wrong, Miyako?" Masumi came and leaned beside me. I stared at the rooftop of the mansion. Corrupted moonlight bathed the plants below in a dimmed light which they were used to receiving. There were no stars to gaze upon and the moon was just as dead in this village.

"Do...do you think we'll get out of here alive?" I glanced at him. His face was pale in the light of the moon. Questions ran across his face as well. I saw them, I saw the resistance he had towards asking, like a physical action. I realized that he got his strength from keeping them unanswered. I felt bad for crushing such a strong barrier. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you..." I gripped the rotting banister. "But this village is like one big spider web. Once you get caught in it, its impossible to get out. We are trapped here, Masumi!" I suddenly, but partially, regretted saying that but it was what was bothering me. The easiest way to let it go was to just say it and I did. Now, I felt bad for saying it.

"Why are you thinking like this? What has gotten into you?" He ducked his head in between his shoulders and let out a long breath. He lifted his head just a little to peer over the banister at the garden below. "I understand why you feel that way...but why must you say it aloud? I feel the same way inside but I don't let it get me down." He lifted his head and I saw his profile shining in the silver light. "Miyako, there is a way out of this village, I know it. It's somewhere, we just have to find it."

I scooted closer to him and rested my head on his shoulder. "We will find it...we just have to keep on looking, no matter what. We are gonna get out of this village. The two of us." I told him what he wanted to hear, what I wanted to hear and not what I felt.

He put his arm around me and hugged me close to him like I was his teddy bear, his security in the dark, dark night. "If only this place weren't so creepy, I'd say that this would be a romantic moment..." I looked at him and he was smiling. "But, no time to waste..." He took my hand again. "We have to keep moving."

I had lost track of time as we roamed the silent house. The walls felt like they were closing in and the air became cooler than before. I ran my arms over and over up and down my arms for warmth. Too bad I couldn't do the same for my legs. We were at the entrance again, and taking a new route down the hall that I'd seen the ghost children in earlier. I held onto Masumi's jacket as we stood in front of the big golden double doors. "Must be an important place..." He mumbled as he pushed the doors open. The sight was chilling and majestic at the same time. It was an altar room, with a high ceiling, still dim with the glow of endless shelves of wavering candle flames shaded by the red glass cups that they sat in. The candles that decorated the altars were short and nearly burned out. Behind the altar table was a tall glass structure with a replica of Buddha behind it's glass. "I've read about this room..." He strayed away and examined the small ornaments and scrolls that were lying around on the floor. I stood near the door, my dead flashlight held tightly, and watched the bounding shadows, my eyes flickering nervously from one corner to the next.

"Masumi...I-I'm going to look around a bit..." I taunted him, an edge of noticeable fear in my voice. I didn't want to stick around in one room for a long period of time.

"You aren't serious, are you?" He stepped off the platform from behind a small table and came over to me. "Okay, okay...Let's go. I don't think there's anything in here so let's leave." I nodded and we exited the room. The hallway looked as if it stretched for miles the more we stared down it. "C'mon. This way."

We got to the end of the hallway which was blocked by another door. Mysteries lurked like shadows in each turn of this house. I opened the door this time and stepped through. Vibrations ran through me for a split second and I gasped as a white figure walked across the room towards a barred wall. He was saying things to himself that weren't understandable to my ears. He disappeared in a matter of seconds and I gained my breath back. "Masumi, did you see?" I said as I turned to him, my voice noticably shaken. He was at my side, his concerned eyes were all on me. "It was a ghost, Masumi, a real ghost!" I wrestled to calm my pulse and regain my sanity. It was a ghost, no doubts about that.

"A...ghost...Miyako are you well?" He put a palm on my forehead. "You feel pretty warm, bunny..."He patted his hands on my warm cheeks, feeling for a sign of fever. The back of his pale hands nudged gently under my chin and the bend of my neck. I began to anger the more he treated me like I was crazy or unwell.

"You didn't see it? It was a ghost, Masumi, a real-"

"Don't get so worked up, bunny. I didn't see the ghost, okay? I...um..might have missed it..." He had a clumsy look on his face, he himself, not believing what he'd just told me. I let out a long, ragged breath and let my hands fall helplessly by my sides. I'd given up the struggle.

"Just forget it, forget I even said that I saw it..." I walked further into the room and looked around. The air was cool but thick, still heavy with moisture. It felt as if I could reach out and swat the droplets that stood still in the air. A small desk was in front of me, even closer was an old coal braizer. But where had the ghost had gone was what I was concerned about. It had disappeared behind the wall to the far right, a small door was the only entrance. I knelt to look in past the bars but only say another wall of bars. This small portion had been used for capture from what it looked like.

"C'mon, Miyako...Let's go." Masumi was already down the small hallway to the left of the door we'd come through and was waiting for me.

"Something or someone was held captive here...In this little room." I stood still facing the barred cell. "Something isn't right here...That's why-" I turned and Masumi was gone. "Masumi!"

Something made my body stiffen with a sudden terror. A raspy voice, almost a whisper, was talking. I looked around the room but no one was there. He still spoke on, something about a ritual and a finally seeing what "it" looked like. I knelt and looked inside of the cell and a man was seated at the small desk against the wall. The ghastly white sight of him made my blood run away from the surface, causing my body to pale and shiver. I gasped and he stood. I turned and began to run. I ran down the small hallway yelling for Masumi. I rounded the corner and almost tumbled down a small flight of stairs. He was waiting at the bottom for me. "Miyako, what-" He began but I could only cry and hold myself. I was losing it. My sanity was slipping farther from reach the longer I stayed in the damned-to-hell village.

"Masumi, let us find a way out of here...please." I sobbed into his chest and wished that this nightmare would fade with the light of day.

He'd found a door at the bottom of the steps that led us to an underground cellar. It was a wide space, more open and prone to encounter. I collected myself and cursed the thoughts of negativity each time they arised. The mental kicks helped to an extent.

"There's gotta be a way outta here..." He said as we walked around the open room. It was much colder down here, like most of the house. The stone walls didn't help much and the fact that there was a well was any more help. I clutched tight to Masumi's jacket, hoping not to ever let go. The well, as we approached it, seemed to say something to us. The windy portal sounded depressing and saddening. The dirt floor under our feet was caked, some parts muddy from leaks of water through the wood over the many years. We'd finally come to some stairs, then a door. Masumi's face lit up as he ran up the steps leaving me behind. Realizing what was behind it, he'd automatically gone into a frenzy, pounding into the door shoulder-first, hoping to bust it down.

I went to it and felt the air wisping from under it up my ankles and climbing higher up. It was cool air that tickled and raised chill bumps along the bare skin past the leather of my mid-calf boots. I could hear the low lap of the water as it washed back and forth against the lake bank. We were at an exit! But...something was holding us back. The feeling vibrated around me, a sudden wash of presense beyond that door. "Masumi...do-do you feel that?"

He stopped fidgiting with the lock and looked at me. "What...?"

"It's there again...Someone is there, behind the door!" He pushed me aside a bit, putting him in front of me.

"Hey! Whoever you are, let us out of here! I demand you!" He yelled at the door and I sat back watching his mindless acts.

"No, it-" I bit my tongue, knowing if I had mentioned a ghost, he'd only think I was ranting nonsense again. "Masumi, calm down a bit...please." I walked past him and pulled on the door. It didn't need a key. The door was freed somehow and the way out was so close that I couldn't maintain a stable balance as I near-collapsed down the two stone steps.

"Oh my God...Miyako, we're out!" I was on my hands and knees, gripping the river stone gravel in my hands. I cried, I was so happy. Masumi pulled me to my feet and hugged me, swing me around and around. I laughed out loud as he put me back down. I blinked hard to rid away the swirling vision but it seemed to stay longer than anticipated. I steadied myself, hoping not to clue any misunderstood reactions from Masumi.

Too late.

"Miyako-" I didn't hear the rest because my eyesight blackened and the darkness had overcome me, swallowing me whole.


	6. Only Way Out

Chapter Six

* * *

_A pale face, so white with death..._

Her mouth opened, in a wail of high-pitched laughter as she walked along the empty road. She was laughing so maliciously, her expression so devilish. Villagers ran out of sight in the mere sense of her around them. They stumbled out of her path, away from her, away from Malice. The dark, dark fog seeped from an erupting abyss, shadowed from sight, slowly crawling out and over the small village. Screams sounded in the dead night and over those was a ring of evil laughter.

Blood, on walls, on the wooden floors, on the bodies and on the girl. She was covered in it, loving it. The red, red rope dangling from her middle swayed as she near-floated through the sea of bodies. Her twisted face drank in the fear of the overrunned village, my fear as well.

She drew near, almost arms' length from me. I was frozen, immobilized from terror as she looked upon me. Her face came into view and she smiled, a wicked one. Her shadowed eyes gazed at me face, watching as my lip quivered in fear of her. She reached a white hand to me, to my face, with her smile worn on her face like a carefully painted porcelain mask, capturing every crease and line in her face. I drew back a little and she giggled.

"D-don't touch me!" I squealed. My voice was coated in a fear so evident that you could almost feel it. Her head tilted a little and her mouth widened and formed an "o" of curiousity. I winced as she lowered her hand from my face a bit. My heart was trying to escape from its place in my chest and my breath seized in my throat. The girl lowered her head. I let out a breath and her hand snatched at my face before I had time to think of screaming.

I sat up screaming, grabbing rapidly at the air, still blinded by sleep. Arms held me but I fought them. Then a voice came and shattered the nightmare. Reality kicked in and Masumi was there, at my side with his arms around me and rocking me slowly. I was damp with sweat from head to foot. My eyes were unfocused in the darkness and still fuzzy with sleep that was unsettled throughout my body.

"I'm here, I'm right here..." He whispered in my ear. I tried to swallow but my mouth was dry and my throat also. I breathed through my nose to conseal moisture in my mouth to use to clear my throat. The feel of my heart pounding in my chest had let me know that I was still alive as well as Masumi's arms wrapped around my body.

"I want to get out of here, Masumi. I want to leave this damned place!" I clutched his arms and he squeezed me against him. I couldn't even cry I was so tired and frustrated. I eased in his arms and sat back taking in my surroundings. It looked familiar, too familiar...

* * *

I had dozed off in his arms and regained a good deal of strength back. I didn't feel so drained and sleepy as we wandered on the village roads. The towering houses looked somber in the dim light of the shaded moon. The plants and shrubs looked dead yet they grew healthily throughout the area. We came across a house just on the far left of the village, hidden in the shadows.   
"You think this place has an exit?" Masumi stood in front of the doors of the house observing them and peeping through the holes of the tattered and weathered rice paper. I stood just behind him, watching the woods behind me. I leaned out and saw a path that ended further into the woods, just past a small wooden bridge. A deity statue stared at me at the corner of the road. The beheaded twin engraved in the cold stone made me turn away and focus back on Masumi.

"Maybe, but I don't really want to find out..."

"What do you mean? This house could be the way outta here! We need to check just in case-"

"Masumi, let's not...please. I don't want to wander too much through these houses...They look so creepy..." I looked around us. "Maybe we can try the way we came in...Maybe we can get out through there instead."

"...Alright, let's go." He took my hand and we backtracked back to the hill where our expeditions first took place. I gripped the leather straps of my bag, which had turned into a frequent but calming habit, as we passed the house where I'd first searched. We trekked up the slope and arrived at the top of Misono Hill.

"It looks so old...Like we've been in the village for a very long time..." I let go of Masumi's arm and searched the hilltop. It was still dead, like before. Masumi was talking but I couldn't hear the words that were coming out of his mouth. Probably rambling on, as usual.

"Look at this." I turned and saw him kick something on the ground.

"What is it?" I stood looking over his shoulder, not to get too close.

"It's just some old torches. Wonder if we can use them, since your flashlight doesn't work anymore..."

I'd forgotten about my busted flashlight I tucked away in my backpack long ago. I looked at the torch on the ground and picked it up.

"I assume you have some matches somewhere in that jacket." He dug around in his many pockets of his beige jacket and came up with nothing. I dropped the torch back on the ground and walked around. The stone pillars off the left of me were stalking over Masumi and I, casting weird shadows in the dim light. "Maybe we can..." I whispered to myself.

"Look!" Masumi was behind me pointing in through the dark trees at something. "It's the gate we came through." I smiled a little. As I stepped to join Masumi, I felt someone snatch my wrist.

"Ouch...Ma-" I peered over my shoulder to meet Masumi's eyes. Instead, they met with a blank, dead pair of eyes. My words died in my throat as I stared at the ghost. His mouth was open as if he were yelling at me, a mouth set agape without a sound coming from it. In his other hand was a torch with a bright white flame but it looked just as dead as the man. I screamed, letting it rip through the hilltop and the woods. Masumi ran to me but stopped short. I swung my bag to hit the man but I couldn't hit him. His grip made my fingers tingle and my throat was getting sore from screaming. I swung my bag against him and something made him let go. I grabbed for Masumi and we dashed through the shrubs, tearing through the branches and hanging brush refusing to look back.

My bare legs and face were stinging from the whips I'd gotten. I didn't stop, though I became so tired. I was disgusted in myself from how quickly I became tired. My breath wheezed from my chest heavy and dry. My feet refused to stop even though my body was about to shut down from exhaustion. My steps eventually became slower and my breathing became raspy. I tripped over a large root and fell into the dry leaves and twigs. I sat there for a moment in the leaves and tried to catch my breath. The feeling of relief passed over me when I rested my tense body against the leafy soil. The firm surface against my body felt good but uncomfortable at the same time.

Masumi caught up and he helped me to my feet. He took the lead and guided me through the woods. The dark sky held an orange-gold halo over an area beyond a few trees. I kept running, running even though my body ached and was close to giving in. I felt my feet start to drag and my body get heavier. It felt like I was running through a sandy beach, my feet sinking into the ground, taking so much strength to pull them up and into the next step.

"C'mon Miyako, we can get outta here!" Under the loud huff of my chest taking in air with trouble, I heard Masumi encourage me. He pushed and pulled me while I lagged behind, struggling to catch my breath.

"Masumi, I hear water..." My voice was barely heard even by myself. We ran through a clearing of the dead woods. I slowed and we trampled through a stream, hopping onto the other side of the shallow bank then more woods.

"We're almost out, Miyako." He said to me. I closed my eyes and continued to run, hoping this was the end. "C'mon, I see something ahead!"


	7. Impossible Odds

_Cameo from Itsuki from my other fic, "Itsuki's Tale". Had to throw that in there._   
Chapter Seven

* * *

"C'mon, Miyako!" Masumi tugged at my arm. We crashed through small saplings and wild brush and into a clearing. My heart sank as I observed my surroundings through tired eyes.

"I-it's impossible!" I said to myself. My legs gave in from under me, allowing my body to fall to the ground in a heap. I had time to breathe but I somehow pushed that aside like it wasn't that important anymore. The disappointment was overwhelming over anything that I'd felt before seeing what I'd seen.

"This can't be..." Masumi helped me up to my feet. I leaned on him for support and we walked. The familiar sight of the hilltop was utterly upsetting to the both of us. We came to the tall dark stone pillars that protruded from the earth and he paused, all the muscles in his body went still. The only one that worked was his neck and his heart. "How did all the torches..."

I lifted my head a little from his chest and looked around what little area my neck permitted me to see without breaking it. He noticed something that I didn't when we arrived back on the hilltop. "The torches. How did they-" I shook my head to knock away the imaginary orange blurs that resembled flames but they stayed. I wasn't imagining things.

"Is this village warped or something?" I let my head fall back onto his chest, my arms folded tightly under the pressure of both of our chests. "How will we ever find a way?" I felt the mental smack of reality hit me, just by a hair because I already knew, but hitting Masumi almost head-on.

"It's hopeless, Masumi..." I muttered into his chest. He snatched me away from him abruptly and shook me a little.

"Why are you talking like this? We both know that there is a way out of here! Please, Miyako, just have some kind of faith..." I swayed in his hands and blinked to focus on his face but I couldn't. All I could see were two black holes and another one below changing its' size with every blink.

"Masumi, please..." I swallowed back the urge to vomit and put my cold hands to my face. "Let us get out of here..."

"We will, we will..." He hugged me close and I almost folded in his arms. My legs screamed to be rested like the rest of my body and my throat burned and cried with thirst. I closed my eyes, just to rest them, and started to feel myself slip into a world unknown.

"Masumi...keep me awake..." I whispered to the chilled air. His arms tightened around me and made me open my eyes. His fingers dug into my arm and it soon felt painful. I lifted my head and focused on the white mist around us.

Faces stared in our direction, pale, dead faces marked with an eternal scream were fixed on Masumi and I. They were stepping in, surrounding us from all corners, closing us off. I steadied myself, wondering if Masumi was seeing what I was. His grip on my arms had loosened and he muttered something. He grabbed my hand and burst into a run at the same time and so quickly that I didn't have the time to ready my feet.

"Ghosts, Miyako...!" He said as we trampled down the damp hill careful not to trip or go too fast. My black bag dangled from my wrist, it's contents flying out of the opened flap.

"Masumi, wait!" I stopped and he pulled my wrist.

"We can't, Miyako! They are after us!" I gazed back up the hill and saw the same white mist seep from the hilltop, making its way down the hill. My eyes fell on the fallen flashlight in the dead leaves and I ran to get it. The beam was bright and tore through the darkness of the shadows like a knife. I shone the light up the hill and the mist parted just a little. It must have been what made the ghost man let go of my wrist... "Let's go, c'mon!" I ran to Masumi with the flashlight in hand. We'd made our way down the hill and back into the village.

"It's no use!" I screamed.

"How are we ever going to leave this place if all we do is run in circles!" Masumi slammed his fist into the old rotted wooden plank that was poorly nailed to a nearby house. It was the same one that I'd first went into when I came looking for Masumi. His cold fingers grabbed at my wrist again as he pulled me onto the village road, heading westward. We ran, looking to no where to hide, looking only for an escape.

I stumbled trying to keep up with Masumi and my fingertips brushed the biggest house on my right, leaving me confused for some reason so I stopped on the village road. I blinked with little strength I had left and everything was a hazy grey, my vision veiled in what looked like static. I stopped in the middle of the small road, Masumi was no where in sight. I called to him and received no answer in reply. I heard men voices coming from the shadows and bushes ahead. None of them sounded like Masumi's voice. The rustling was getting louder and so was the voices. I squeezed the flashlight in my hand, readying myself for just about anything.

The voices were just around the corner of the house on my right, not so far away. I was stepping back, preparing to burst into a run the opposite way. Now they were screaming at someone or something. I squinted to see through the shadows. A blur of white made its way towards me, cutting through the shrubs and dark trees.

The blur emerged from the shadows revealed as a young adolescent boy, his face flushed in fear. His unusual snow white hair, pale complexion and white kimono made him look like he was a walking undead. He ran from the voices, heading the way I came from. I stepped closer and he ran through me leaving a cool, lingering vibration throughout my body. I turned and watched as he dipped down the small road that lead to the Kurosawa Mansion. The men weren't far behind. I gulped and followed the boy and three village men down the small road.

The men ran up a flight of concrete steps to a high-up door straight ahead from the overhead bridge. I watched as they pounded at the door, fighting for a way to get into the house. Why were they chasing after the boy? More men came into the picture to help pound down the door. I ran around and back up the small stairs to the main road. Men with torches and scythes and even long poles came from no where. They were all headed towards the house the boy ran into.

A hand that slammed down on my shoulder made me jump, hard. Masumi was there now, his face fixed with fright. He pulled on me and we continued running. We stumbled across a small wooden bridge and up a numerous amount of stairs. On the horizon was a small building, oddly intact despite the yearly weather damage the other houses took. I huffed to catch my breath.

"What-what is this place? Looks like some kind of storage building...Is it?"

"No, no...It's a shrine..." Masumi's sudden facination had my attention. I stood upright, my hands cradling my burning chest.

"What's here for us?" I stepped up to his side, glancing at him. He turned and faced me, hands on my shoulders.

"A way out." He said with a smile.


	8. Reoccurring Nightmares

Chapter Eight

* * *

His smile, his eyes...they looked happy. I felt a pressure on my heart lift as he said those words. A smile of my own curved my lips and I began to laugh. I ran to the doors of the small shrine. The dampened wood was engraved with a huge symbol. I took a few steps back and looked at the doors again. Under the dim lighting of the near-faded lanterns and the macabre moon, I saw a butterfly. 

"What does the butterfly mean on the doors?" I said to Masumi. He joined me in observation, tracing his fingers over the imprint.

"Butterfly symbols like this can mean different things. Life, death, and birth. Happiness, even. Messengers of death or even messengers of the heavens, delivering departed souls to their right place..." He paused. "On this door, I don't know what it means." He looked behind him gazing into the misty air. "These symbols are scattered everywhere in this village; in the literature and in the rituals..." I watched Masumi's back. He turned to me, a smile now painted on his pale face. "This village is just crawling with unknown facts and filled with mystery. Makes it worth while to be here..."

I raised an eyebrow and shook my head at that. "Masumi...This village is crawling with rogue spirits and secrets that shouldn't be uncovered for anyone's own good. It might be a field day to spend hours searching through countless scrolls filled with so called "rituals" and curses, playing fill-in-the-blank, but for me...its-its a nightmare to be chased by restless souls, knowing that if I close my eyes for one second...someone is always waiting for a haunt." I shivered and gripped myself tighter. "I just want to go home."

He kissed my forehead and walked past me to the shrine doors. "Ok, Miyako, we're going home..." He reached behind him for my hand. I took his hand in both of mine and held tightly. He shoved the doors open and they made a deep groaning sound as the opened. The sound made my skin coat in fresh chill bumps. I took the handy flashlight from my pocket and gave it to Masumi for the first time. He flicked it on and shone it through the room.

I breathed the cool damp air through my nostrils and instantly made my whole nose cold. The scent of dampened wood filled the small space, covering the air's real smell. I was shivering from head to toe from the air mixed with my cold feet and fingers. I held onto Masumi's hand for it was worth and walked close behind, my back hunched and head dipped between my shoulders like a timid child holding onto Mother at the Marketplace.

The wooden fencing on both sides were broken in places, paper talismans still strung to them. There were a few urns of different sizes in most of the corners. The place was rundown but withstanded the weather nicely. I steered clear of holes in the floor, but generally everywhere else. I observed the sawed rope fixtures that hung, or looked like they were sawed off. A small altar sat near the back of the shrine. Masumi pulled at his hand with my hands clutched in it and I declined his request to let go. Instead he stuffed the end of the flashlight hesitantly in his mouth and tinkered with the ornaments and decorations with his now free hand. I played as a look-out. I never trusted the darkness since I stepped through the gate and into the village. Darkness has shown what all lurks within it, believe that I was terrified of it.

"C'mon, let's find the way out of here and leave!" I squealed with impatience. My fear was now visible though shadowed by my quivers from the cold. I pressed my nails into Masumi's palm and he yelped. Coughing the flashlight back into his hand, we continued our raid of the old shrine.

"The book said that there's an escape tunnel located in Kureha Shrine, here. Headmaster to Kurosawa Mansion, Ryokan Kurosawa sealed off this place. Said that twins tried to escape and were crushed to death by a cave-in. Since that-"

"Masumi, please, you're scaring me." I said. I fought to control the tremors as I walked. My knees wanted to buckle and I felt my whole body plead for a chance to rest. I was unbelievably cold from the crown to my heels. My body was stiff from the tremors that wracked my body. I resisted and we passed through a hole in the fence that separated us from the rest of the shrine.

"There!" Masumi almost left me stumbling as he ran to a door. It looked like a small closet door.

"Where's the handle?" I said. The door was sealed some other way other than the traditional lock-and-key. Masumi felt around the door slipping past the seals and talismans that were plastered to the door. He winced and yanked his hand back hissing. He exclaimed it was only a papercut and went back to searching.

I crouched onto the balls of my feet with my arms enveloping me, blinked and wished I hadn't.

_The screams of agony and echoes of my crying victims rang clear in my ears. Red slashes were printed on my eyelids and bloody handprints marked the walls of my mind. With each swing was a splash of crimson pleasure, and a scream satifying something deep within. They gaped at my rope-bound body as I drifted absently throughout the halls searching for more. A figure in white leading the way towards more of what I'd wanted. Insatible cravings for blood and pain made my hunt even more exciting as I uncovered my lambs one-by-one. Slumbering for decades, near centuries, one face, a young almost flawless face of a young man ventured my halls and awakened my crave for slaughter._

With a gasp I fell to my knees, coughing and gagging. Masumi scrambled to help me to my feet and I only fought him. I grabbed his collar and stared into those eyes and saw myself. Coming back to myself, I wrapped my arms around his neck and only sobbed. I said not a word, afraid of what I may say. I felt his bewilderment and I could only cry. I didn't want to see it, not my Masumi.


	9. Back To The Beginning

Chapter Nine

* * *

"W-what's the matter, Miyako? C'mon, speak to me!" He pushed at my shoulders, prying me away from him. My words kept dissolving on my tongue with every question he'd asked and every attempt to answer. I heard the panic in his voice as he kept squeezing me and repeating my name. I didn't want to say because I felt that it might upset him, though I felt that I should say just for his safety. Did I believe what I'd seen, nearly experienced? Or did I want to? No, of course I didn't.

"Don't let go of me, Masumi, no matter what. Promise me you won't leave me alone. Promise that-that-that you wi-will stay and-and never leave m-my side." I hiccupped into his neck. His heavy hand was stroking my hair, his soft breath in my ear. Even though he promised me, I couldn't help but hold doubt against his word.

"Get up so we can go. We can't leave through this way." He said, sounding a bit upset and tired. He stood me up, my arms still wrapped around his warm neck. He knelt down and scooped my feet from under me and I let my body fall into his arms. "You need some rest..."

"I'm hungry too." I added.

"I have nothing to give you, Miyako."

"I know." The warmth of his body, his neck, mingled with the scent that I knew him by, the one that I could call "Masumi's scent". He smelled sweet, but not in a feminine way. Like sugar sweet, a candy of some sort, made especially for this man. A faint and spicy smell of his favorite aftershave was covering "his" scent, a light sprinkle, not too much to cloud it. It was a scent that I would always love to come home to. His soft, bouncy, feather-light black hair held a unique smell to it too. It smelled of mints, peppermint, especially because of the shampoo we use. It was now a faded scent, lightly coated with the perspiration of him.

Masumi knelt once more to pick up the fallen flashlight and he left through the hole in the fence. He hitched me up so that I could rest my head on his shoulder. I looked back and saw two figures in white kimonos escape through the hole. The sight of the two ghosts made my heart jump in my chest. I just squeezed my eyes shut and whispered for it all to leave me alone. Masumi spun around, as if he felt them, quizical, then, turning back he continued through the door. The warmth of my body and face combined with Masumi's steadily wrapped around me like an envelope of comfortable heat. I closed my eyes and let my tired mind rest.

"Miyako, look! C'mon, Miyako get up!" I felt Masumi put me on solid ground and the feeling of it on my back was alien to my senses. I blinked, my eyelids were heavy. I kept blinking with my eyes moving around the area, gathering up all of my memory and the moments before I dozed off in his arms. I shook my head with Masumi whirling around me singing merrily and dancing around in big circles. "Miyako, look! We've made it, we got out, and we're alive!" He ran to me and scooped me onto my feet. I swayed, my brain still trying to make sense from all this. Weren't we just in a haunted village? I had realized that the sky was clear, dotted with sheets of puffy clouds and their silver lining from the sun's rays burning through the sky, changing it ever so slowly from its fire orange to the weirdest blues and gold. Trees around us were green, their leaves yellowing and changing a little from the creeping season.

"Are we home?" I near-stumbled to the edge of the wood, my sights filled with the lush, yellow-green, of the countryside. It all looked familiar but in a way that I'd been missing for years and had come back to a place that hadn't changed since I left. I choked up as my feet wandered across the grass. I could only stare at the orange-gold washed valley below us and think 'We've made it. We're home.'. I knelt on the grass and touched it for I'd forgotten what fresh grass felt like. It was like blades of cool velvet in my fingers.

Masumi came and squatted beside me. "This is home." I grinned so hard that I just had to laugh. I laughed until tears of joy and relief flowed down my cheeks in never-ending streams. Wrapping my arms around Masumi's neck, I burst into a fresh batch of sobs and tears. I cried as he carried me down the hill and eventually tired myself out. I had no trouble falling asleep as we continued our journey home.

I jumped in my sleep from a dream. A dream that I'd thought I'd long since gotten rid of, hopefully the last of my dreadful nightmares. The first thing I noticed when woke was that I was in a bed. A soft, clean bed with fresh white and crisp sheets that had awaited my arrival. I was in our room in our new house we'd gotten just a month before he left. I flopped back onto the soft pillows and stared blankly at the white ceiling. A sweet, light scent drifted into my nose. It was the scent of my favorite shampoo. I ran my hand across my arms and they were soft and smooth, clean from the dirt and dust. Everything was alive, bright and felt so real around me and for the first time in ages, I felt cleaner than ever. I had no doubts that this was a dream. I turned on my side and spotted a portrait on the nightstand by a the small white lamp. It was a picture of us, in our new house.

"Miyako..." I felt my heart hiccup inside of me. Masumi was in the doorway with a glass of water in his hand. His black feather-soft hair was curved and combed, clean, neatly to one side. His body was covered in a clean white polo shirt and light blue jeans that hung loosely from his slender hips. I looked more closely at him in the dim lamplight. His skin looked darker, a lot less pale than before. His summer tan was fading with summer its' self, though he looked even paler in the village. It might have just been the light. He padded around to my side, the bottom of his jeans shuffling across the carpet with light _'scuff'_ sounds, and set it beside the portrait. I scooted my legs around the bed so that he could sit down. I smiled at him and our glances seemed to linger on each other's faces longer than they intended to. I turned away first, my face burning with a powder pink blush. He chuckled and I felt my face grow solemn.

"Y'know, I truly thought we were going to die back there. I actually saw no hope for us." I cut my eyes over to him. "But I always had a small glint of faith left in me, though. My faith was left for you. I felt that if one of us were to get outta there alive, it woulda been you. You were strong back there, Masumi." I let out a small laugh through my nose. "I-I'm sorry, really. I want to forget this and-and start over...I know you want to forget too."

Masumi combed his fingers through my hair and shook his head softly, "It's fine, just...y'know, see it as some kind of bad vacation." I giggled. Yeah, a bad vacation was a lighter way to see it instead of a one-way trip to hell. He let his fingers trail lightly down the side of my face as he kissed my forehead then my lips, soft and warm, and got up from the bed. "I'm going to fix dinner, okay?" I nodded and with that, he left through the door. I slung the sheets from over me and let my feet dangle from the bed. I noticed I was dressed in a satin night slip. It felt comfortable and sort of refreshing to my skin. I stood and the carpet was plush and smooth under my feet compared to the hard dirt and rocks. I could see them smiling at the relief of the comparison. I walked to the doors that led to the balcony and pushed them open. The warm night air washed over me like a blanket of the finest silk, dancing through the loops of my arms, legs and loose hair. I stepped out onto the cold concrete and saw the moon, bright as a beacon high up in the sky. It was full, shining over everything, looking alive as the green earth, and bathing it all in silver. It had been so long since I'd seen stars accompanying the moon in its shimmer over the earth. Smiling, I looked over the railing and my heart sank in dismay. The silver light had turned dull grey and the green lawn below was now a small old village. Rooftops of the nearly dead houses had flooded our once-green grass. _'No...no, this was all a dream!'_ I took a glance at the moon. Clouds had covered the sky in a smokey veil and almost cast the moon aside. Death looked as though it had reigned upon the earth destroying all life once again.

"Masumi!" I turned and ran for the nearest door out. I ran and the hallways seemed to stretch great lengths the more I ran. I stopped and called for Masumi. I had no answer. The walls around me stripped from its white wallpaper and rotted away as I stood in utter fear and surprise. With the courage left in me, I pressed my finger into the wall. It caved in a little, leaving an imprint of my finger in the now dark surface. I heard a tiny creak and my heart seemed to stop when I saw a shadow ahead. "Masumi!" I called. I advanced by a few steps but froze when the figure moved. It was a short figure, shorter than myself and Masumi. "Ma..." I took a step back. "You...What have you done with him?" I shouted down the rotted hallway. I stepped another step back and my steps made the floor scream with a loud croak. I trembled wildy as I fought to stay on my feet.

The figure began to walk towards me. I leaned against the wall and I broke a hole through the wallpaper. I wiped away the wetness from my shoulder hastly as if were something unpleasant like an unwanted bug. A foul stench floated around me until it hit me like a punch to the stomach. Decaying flesh. I grabbed at the hole in the wall and felt my fingers sink into the unusually saturated plank of wood. I tore away the damp wood. A heap fell onto the dark floor with a thud. I couldn't see what it was but knew it was a body. I screamed with all that was left in me. I spun around to run and ran head-on into a wall. It wasn't there before. I was trapped. I balled up my fist and something squished in my palm. I rolled my fingers around the semi-thick liquid. I yelped in a moment of realization and wiped my hands down the sides of my gown. My forehead and palms began to break out in a cold sweat as I felt around on the wall for a way out. I scratched and tore at the wallpaper and they began to bleed. I watched, paralyzed in my fear, as the small thin streams of red blood made its way down the walls. I heard another small creak and I turned and the figure was just feet from me. The figure stepped into a pale light and the white bottom of her kimono wavered at her ankles. The redness of the blood on the white fabric grew brighter as she eased more into the light.

Her laugh pierced through me and brough only fright into my heart. Her powder-white face was stretched in a wide, black hole as she howled at me. The awful sound had quieted and her smile was evil, deadly and as insane as her laughter. "There's no escape...You can't run from me 'cause I will find you..." She whispered in a sing-song tone. Her hair showered over her eyes like a black curtain, hiding her psychotic stare. Even though her eyes were covered from the dark shadows and invisible to my sight, I could feel the stare that drilled into me. She giggled, like a little girl, a soft and innocent sound until it gradually erupted into a loud screech. I could only swallow back my heart into my chest and lean against the wall for support because the wall was all the support that I had. My legs shook almost unsteadily from the terror the reigned on me. She stopped her laughing and looked at me again. I had only time to blink before she took hold of my neck.

I shuddered and slowly opened my eyes. It was dark save for a small lit lantern nearby. Masumi sat close to me, his back almost facing me with a notebook in his lap and a pencil in his fingers. I didn't move any part of my body, just my eyes. I let them wander the room taking in the scene. I had noticed that for once, my heart wasn't beating no higher than its normal pace. I moved my arms to stretch out but I was tightly wrapped around my upper body. Masumi had tucked me into his jacket, I thought. I moved more and my body ached from it. I wondered how I'd become so sensitive in my legs and arms. My chest even felt like it was going to explode. My back was screaming to be rested on something other than a hard floor. Somewhere on the right side of my head, I felt a small pain. I felt a headache coming on. I blinked a little and it started to hurt. I just closed my eyes for a moment and concentrated on other things other than my pains. I turned my head a little and opened my eyes to watch Masumi.

His mouth twitched to the side then curling up as if he were in a very deep thought. He scribbled, erased, grunted, scribbled, thought, and scratched at his head. I could feel a well of joy flood into my heart as I watched him write. I blinked and sighed, still going unnoticed. The dream felt so real...

I continued to stare at the ceiling, then I turned to the light from the large door over my head. I craned my head back to see out. There were small trees and garden plants beyond the door. The light must have been the moonlight from outside. I realized how tense I was from being frightened to death so often so I let out a breath and relaxed on the semi-softness of the floor and covers. I heard Masumi shuffle to one side to rest his slouching back on a wall. He still seemed engulfed in his writing so I just closed my eyes and waited for sleep to come along.

"Oh...oh my..." Masumi mumbled to himself. He sounded almost surprised. I opened my eyes a little, squinting at him below my feet. He set his notebook aside on the floor and leaned his head back on the wall. The squinting made my head start to hurt so I just called him.

"Ma-..." My voice was weak and raspy. My throat almost burned as if it were on fire. I tried again but almost no sound came out. I went unnoticed again.

I balled my hand into a fist and tapped on the wooden floor. Masumi lifted his head from the wall and looked around. I knocked harder and he looked at me. I smiled and he crawled to my side. "Miyako, you're up." He kissed my forehead and untucked the jacket that he'd wrapped around me for warmth. "How long have you been awake?" He asked.

I shrugged my shoulders and opened my mouth to say something. "..." I could only muster up a harsh feeling in my throat as my words rubbed against my burning throat. His brows furrowed in concern as he leaned over me. I swallowed whatever saliva that sat in my mouth and tried again. "I...dnt...f..guht...asumi." I closed my eyes and smiled and that was even as weak as I felt.

"What, what's bothering you?"

"...urt," I croaked out. "I..."

"You, what?" He began to look more puzzled and worried the more I tried to speak. I moved my hands around under the jacket. He lifted it from me and I shivered from the cold air. I put my hand on my chest. He still looked confused. I felt helpless and frustrated because I couldn't talk or barely move. I slid my hand down my chest and let it rest on my thigh. I gathered up energy to hold my arm up as I pointed to my other arm. I let my hands flop down beside me and swallowed.

"I...hurt." I said.

"Oh! You're hurt. Where?"

I shook my head. "Ache...ing"

"Oh...you're aching, hurt." He threw his jacket back over my lightly this time. He bit down on his lip, contemplating on what to say, or do next. "Are you well?"

I let my head flop side to side. I lifted my other hand that rested on my stomach and set in on my neck. "Hu..rts..."

"You're neck hurts...and your body aches." I nodded. "We can wait for a little while longer before we can get out of here. Until you get better." He stood up and dusted off the knees of his pants and walked to the large door overhead. He looked out into the eternal night with a look of deep thought etched on his features. Had he planned on something when I was to awaken?


	10. Why?

Final Chapter: Why?

* * *

I had fallen asleep watching Masumi gaze into the moon-showered garden and finally had a peaceful few minutes, hours, for what it seemed, of rest. I uncurled from the position I was in and yawned. My body was unbelievably stiff from the position and the hard floor. I let my eyes search, looking about the room. I sat up quickly, my muscles cursing at the actions, and scanned the room like my life depended on, which it did. Masumi wasn't here. The shadows had accompanied me instead, along with a single note on a musty cushion. 

'Found a critical clue. Might be our way out! Be back soon. I love you, Masumi.'

"No..." I said. My voice still rattled in my sore throat. I stood up and held myself in my arms. "Why?" I said to myself. I felt a void of loneliness crash into me suddenly. I felt like going into hysterics but I had no strength to do so. I felt like thrashing the room to pieces, tearing up every item in my path. Instead, I sat back down on the floor and brought my knees to my chest. Wrapping my arms around them securely, I rocked myself steady, calming every shattered nerve I had left in me. I resisted the effect of being alone in such a place by blanking out every thought I had in mind. I thought that if I sat here any longer in the dark and all by myself, I'd go crazy. I felt a swell of emotions build its' way up to the surface, waiting to explode over the rim. I didn't know what I felt and it made it all the more frustrating.

Was I angry? Angry that Masumi left after promising not to leave again...Or was I sad because it may be last time I see him? I held onto my legs tight with my nails digging into my upper arms. I was alone, scared, angry, sad and didn't know how to deal with it. The aggitation of not knowing how I felt made it harder to cope with. A sob formed in my sore throat and I bit down onto my bottom lip to hold it down. I rocked harder with my back banging against the wall. It began to sting but I ignored it, continuing to rock back and forth, struggling to keep myself intact.

I couldn't take the silence. I couldn't take the feeling of being left alone again. I felt my well of emotions slam into me all at once, nearly knocking me off mental feet like a hit to the body that made me wince. In one quick motion I stood, my hands almost automatically going for my hair. I screamed to the top of my lungs, releasing every bit of air in them, with my fingers tangled in the long black strands. I exhaled all sound until it felt as if my chest was going to compress its self flat too. I inhaled again and let out another scream. It hurt but I didn't care. The sound in such a small space bounced off the walls and rang in my ears. My fingers curled tighter as I screamed out my frustration and pain. Tears of my angst settled on my warm cheeks. I released my hair and hugged myself tight. I took in lungfuls of air this time and screamed it all out. My fingernails raked down the length of my arms leaving trails of fire burning in their paths.

It took everything I had to keep my balance after that. My heart was going wild in my chest, my head was pounding and my ears still rung. I was leaned against the wall, breathing harsh air on my torn, raw throat. It hurt so badly with every breath I took. I slid onto the floor, my back still set against the wall, too exhausted to stand. I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand and sighed. I only felt a small amount better afterwards but I still paid my price for this bit of relief.

My body felt limp and useless in the dark of the room and I sank into myself, wanting anything, wanting to give anything to be with Masumi again, to feel his presence again. "Where did you go...?" I whimpered to the air. "Why, Masumi?" I allowed my voice to escape from the pain in my throat. I, myself, wanted to escape the pain. My eyelids became heavy, harder to keep up. I blinked and only made them even heavier. I let them fall onto the flashlight that sat on the other side of me, near an old coal braizer. I blinked and my eyelids felt like heavy syrup, streaming slowly downward.

I woke myself from my sleep by taking in a shaky, still-aching, dragging breath, the hardness of the wall on my back helped me recall the times before I fell asleep. I stretched out and searched the room, hoping to see Masumi watching me from afar, waiting for me to awaken. But I didn't. I didn't see any sign of him coming back for anything or even for me. I sighed and blinked away the sleep from my eyes. I stretched my legs out and stood up slowly, not fully trusting my legs for their full support, using the wall to help myself up. The flashlight sat untouched, waiting to be used, on the floor where Masumi was sitting before he left. I wavered a bit on my aching muscles before walking over to it and picking it up.

I flicked on the switch and the beam seemed to spread across the wall and reach toward the ceiling of the dark room. I squinted at the sudden burst of light, waiting for my eyes to get used to its' brightness. It was too quiet in the house, an unnerving silence spilling throughout the rooms of the whole house. I heard the beating of my peaceful heart like something not meant to be heard. A secret revealed. I stood for a while letting my ears tune into the almost tangible hush of the house. My hand tensed into a fist as I ached for a hand to hold, something soothing and comforting. Here, having something like that was a luxury now. I made the first move of my foot, putting so much effort into making my small steps noiseless. I shuffled down a few steps and was facing a door. I reached for the door in tentative movements. The door's scream seemed to rattle the hallway, filling it with such noise. I stepped out into the hall and the door slammed shut behind me. The sound made me gasp.

I practiced taking small dainty steps until I got the hang of walking without making much noise on the old floorboards. I rounded a corner and recognized where I was. Something unfamiliar caught my eye as I passed a hidden staircase. A nook in the wall lit by a standing candle harbored what looked like, to me, another hidden room. I eased up the two steps and searched for a handle. I found one and pulled at it. It took a little more power than I had but I managed to slide the door open from its' jam. I shone the light into the room with quick movements before entering.

The room was a little warmer and a little more comfortable than the rest of the house. There was something about the room that put my heart at ease. I stumbled over books, papers and old scrolls that littered over the floor and made my way over to bureaus with papers spilling from the drawers. I made out characters on the papers and they, from the format, looked like documents of some sort. I set the flashlight pointing upwards on a desk close at hand so I could rumage more freely. I took out the drawers from the bureaus and emptied the papers onto the desk. I fished through them searching for anything that might lead to an escape, or at least to Masumi.

I read over the yellowed papers finding more and more facts, or theories about the village and its' inhabitants. I read about the four chief houses, Kurosawa, Tsuchihara, Tachibana, and Kiryu. The four houses were owned my Ceremony Masters, the most powerful people of the village and how each house participated in a certain type of ritual called a "Crimson Sacrifice". I dug through the papers and found nothing further on the houses or the ritual. I let my hands swim through the papers randomly pulling out different papers with each dive.

I became bored after a few more rounds of digging and stood up, my body releasing a tiresome and relieved sigh. I snatched up the flashlight and scoped the room with it once more before leaving. I slid the door back in place behind me and I stepped out into the hallway. I made my way back to the fireplace room. I stood still and let my ears tune into the silence.

I closed my eyes and made my breathing shallow, softer. The less sound I made, the better I could hear and concentrate on hearing what was around me. Off to the left of me, a small whimper came from behind a wall. The sound made me jump inside and my face flush. I turned and shone the light on the wall. Another hidden room. The whimper turned into a shuffle, small and quick. It was muffled but still could be heard in the thick silence. Was it Masumi?

I inched closer to the wall and let my fingers drift across the rough textured wall until I found an indention in the wall. My fingertips rubbed over the cool smoothness of the wooden handle. I pulled it to one side and the door slid open. I moved inside and was facing a piece of clothing hanging in front of me. I walked around it, careful not to let my steps mingle with the muffled shuffling. The bars on one wall showed me that I was in the room at the entrance of the house. I spun around quickly and feet away from me was a sectioned off part of the small room. The doorway was narrow so it limited my view from the rest of the room.

I listened, my heart now a part of the silence, and heard nothing. I balled my hand up into a fist, my other hand that gripped the flashlight trembled. I took a step closer and it brough me just a few inches closer to the room. I took small steps until I reached the doorway. I let my beam burn into the wall ahead as my eyes searched the rest of the small space alone. The room looked as if it was used for storage from the amount of boxes that lay stacked in its' corners. One large red box sat closed in front of me, only shy of two feet from where I stood. I sighed with relief and turned to walk away.

A sound, small and muffled, came from the room behind. It was the same cry that had drawn me here. It was a stifled sound like someone whimpered whilst covering their mouth but behind layers of wood and fabric. I tried to ignore it as I inched my way from the door but something about it made me turn back to the large red box.

My heart leaped in my throat as the lid shifted slightly. My breath became shaky as I stood, paralyzed, and watched as the lid gradually moved to one side. I backed away as far as I could go, my back pressed hard against the bars of the room. The lid of the box slid to the floor in a fluid movement and I only gasped as the sound of cries filled my ears. I put my hands over my ears to mute the cries of an infant and a woman. My arms fell back to my sides and was of no use.

Slowly, almost cautiously, a woman emerged from the box, flowing to the floor like liquid in stiff movements. Her hands pulled her dead body from the box like extra legs. Her long ashen hair drifted to the floor as if it had a life of its own and hung like a thick curtain in her face, hiding her dead eyes. My heart acted as if it were struggling to escape the more I stood watching the ghost crawl from the box. My body failed me once more, frozen, almost immobilized from my fear.

The woman stood, swaying, as if she were trying to figure out where she was. Her body, bent at the waist wasn't as transparent as the other ghosts. She seemed to look solid but I knew that she was dead, no doubts about that. Her movements cotinued that way until she stopped, her whole body stiffening up as if she'd froze in mid-motion. My hands and body quivered tremendously as she remained stiff. I whimpered and she advance closer, a dragging limp on dead feet.

I could only press harder against the bars as she limped, progressing slowly towards me. Her upper body swung like dead weight hanging from her waist, her hair swishing back and forth still showering her face. I felt my knees buckle but I remained on foot, refusing to let my legs fold under me. I found it within myself to move, risking my life, reaching for the door. The woman stopped short of three feet in front of me and swayed. My blood pulsated with waves of adrenaline fierce enough to paralyze me once more. Inside I screamed to run but my body responded negatively in fear of what would happen.

My body answered to my demands but I walked slowly to the door, careful enough not to run like I really wanted to do. I rounded the cloth that hung in front of the doorway and the woman moaned. I paused at the sound and turned. She stood, her lower half still swaying, facing me. I fumbled to look for the handle but seemed to not find it. My hands were too shaky to search properly and the beam of the flashlight shook, too unsteady to use. I held my breath and looked to my right. She was still standing there.

A creak of the floorboard had my attention as I still tried to find the door's handle. I turned my head and resisted looking at the ghost, using every bit of power I had to hold myself steady while searching for the handle. Another creak made me glance over and she was now standing, only feet from me. My breath automatically caught in my throat as the ghost leaned her head to one side as if she were confused. I ran my frantic fingers over the door with my eyes still on the ghost. The movement of her head let her hair fall from her face. She'd exposed her eyes, white and emotionless, and I gasped as her mouth opened in a snarling fashion. I felt my fingers knock against the wooden handle and I pulled and it didn't budge. The woman's mouth widened and she started to run for me, her hands outstretched to grab. Time seemingly slowed for that moment as she came for me. I finally slid the door to the side and slipped through nearly untouched.

The world around me seemed to revert back to normal as I slammed the door shut. I hesitated for a second to stop and catch my breath but I didn't take my chances. I ran back to the room where I'd found the papers and documents and jammed the door, locking it in place. My heart's pace dropped to a fair level and I rested against the door. I had not the strength to move. I'd been afraid for so long and so often that it started to take affect on me by draining life from me. Maybe it was true about being scared to death...

I paced about the open area of the room with my flashlight cut off to save it's power for when Masumi arrives with an escape. I thought about where he could have been and what made him leave so suddenly. I thought about what I'd do when we returned home and all the small things. I sat in the middle of the room with my knees drawn to my chest, my chin resting peacefully on top. The dark seemed more comforting in this room, less to worry about and for the first time for what felt like forever, I felt safe. I felt that nothing could reach me in here, nothing would catch me. I rocked back and forth to occupy myself in the dark. Nothing was left for me to do but to wait. I didn't want to wait, I'd wait for what feels like forever if I were to wait for Masumi's return. Too caught up in his own world to realize that I'm here is a thought that often passed through the light of my mind but would always be shoved back into the shadows.

I sprawled out on the tatami floor of the room facing the ceiling, my hands clasped gently over my stomach. I felt freakishly safe and unnerved by the surprises hidden in the walls of this house and it made me a little worried. Why was I so calm, so collected, and only in this room? The thought of it made me sit up. I took in my surroundings carefully. Old paintings over centuries old hung on the dreary walls, the papers I searched through lay scattered around in a yellowed mess. A small, almost discreet altar sat in one corner against the wall. Ornaments, trinkets, small scrolls sat on the shelf, beckoning to me.

I stood and walked over to the small altar. I touched the trinkets and moved the items around. They all looked like they were used in a ceremony of some sort. "Must be the one that was noted in the papers..." I said aloud. My voice still sounded like a whisper from how sore it still was. I set the trinkets back in place and sat at the edge of the desk near me. My eyes wandered over the top of the desk and found it clear enough to lay on. I sat back on my side and curled up on the desk. "A nap might help me think clearer..."

* * *

A slam jerked my body from its' rest and brought me back to reality. I sat up and looked around. The light shining from outside looked darker, grey and scary. I swung my legs over the desk and set my feet on the floor. What was that sound just a minute ago. I recalled it and the sound related to a door slamming. I was hit by realization and I hopped off the table bolting to the door. I paused with my hand setting on the handle. I let out a small laugh to myself, "Masumi, I knew you'd come back." I slid open the door and walked into the hallway. My hand felt bare without my flashlight to grip onto but I didn't care, Masumi was back. 

The air in the hall breezed around me enveloping me in fresh chill bumps all over my skin. I rubbed my upper arms and stepped out into the main hallway. "Masumi?" I said aloud. The hallway seemed to stretch new heights without my flashlight's beam. It was a whole lot darker too. "Masumi?" I said louder, hoping that he'd hear me this time. I listened and heard nothing. I advanced to the room where I suspected him of being, my arms still held tight against my body. I rounded the corner and the door ahead slammed shut. The sound of it made me jump, too loud of a sound in such silence.

I didn't hesitate to run to the door and grab it's handle, yanking it open with an eager force. I jumpped up the steps and was facing the back of Masumi. "Ma...sumi?" I advanced a step but stopped. My hand almost automatically reached out to him but I drew back. His back was oddly hunched in an alien posture. Across it was slashes of crimson in all sizes up, down, and across. The cuts, no not cuts, slashes, went as deep, past his beige leather jacket and white polo shirt, down the meat of his back. The wounds looked nearly healed but also looked fresh from the redness. My hand came to my mouth in horror of what my brain was registering. His arms that hung by his sides were slashed and red. His shoulders shook and my focus went back on his back. His hands balled up into fists and he said something that I couldn't understand.

I felt my heart sink and tears floated to my eyes. My fingers brushed my dry lips, "Masumi, what...what happened?" I squealed out and it turned into a small cry. His head lifted and he slowly turned his head to look over his shoulder. My heart stuttered and the breath that was ready to be released seized in my throat as he turned full-body to me. I gulped hard and my fear melted over me again stiffening me all over. "God...Masumi..." I stepped few steps then stopped in front of the coal braizer. The dim silver light spilled over his back and cast a silver halo over his frame. Shadow covered his slashed face but didn't hide the death that leaked from him. His eyes held no color, his hair, skin and body shone ashen in the dim lighting. My knees wanted to give in but I restrained. Tears blurred my sight and I covered my face, holding it in my hands as I sobbed. Masumi didn't stand before me.

"There's...something I have to give to you, Miyako." The voice was real enough. I lifted my face from my hands to see Masumi's ghost standing in my vision. I jumped and he grabbed my shoulders. The touch was almost violent, but was there. I blinked in my confusion but before I could ask, his hands slowly moved from my shoulders to my neck. I closed my eyes and my face rested in the palms of his hands. They were cold as ice but I didn't mind it. They moved slowly heading downward then stopped at the base of my neck.

My eyes fluttered open and I was staring into eyes that held nothing. Emotion waserased from these eyes that locked on mine. He was dead. I knew, but at the same time I didn't. I didn't want to believe the fact that what was touching me was not real. I felt another cry build up in my throat but I didn't push it back this time.

The ghost's fingers closed tight around my neck and I tried to scream but my throat didn't allow it. I reached from it's wrists but my hands only clasped their own. I flailed my arms to chase it's hands away but they only swung at the air. I stumbled and he held me tight in his hands. The blood in my head and neck pulsed hard, my heart working to shootmy lifepast it's hands. He spun me around and my body fell to the floor. My head knocked against a wooden ledge and I felt dizzy. I felt my life draining away with each second that the ghost held onto me. Something other than his body pinned me down to the floor and I still fought. I kicked but I kicked at air. I was gasping and choking now, holding on to my own, trying to survive as I fought against the intangible power. All that ran through my mind was why was he doing this? Why was he attacking me? I saw us together, from the beginning, when we were in classes together all the way to the day we bought our house and now this...

I felt light-headed and my sight was dimming. The ghost still clung tight. "W...hy?" I managed to squeeze out. I couldn't breath but I fought, my arms and legs heaving from the floor with my last ounces of energy. The body, hands, everything was intangible. I weakened and could only stare into those deadly eyes that used to hold life in them.

My eyelids finally fluttered shut and I saw Masumi. He was nearly shreaded throughout his body with the gashes still flowing fresh. His back was slumped, limp against the back of a large closet-like room and he was breathing heavily, almost in rasps. His fingers were curled weakly around a pen as he scribbled something down a a piece of torn paper. The pen fell away from his hand and he used the last bit of strength to ball the note in his bloodied palm and bring it to his lips. The tears mingled with the blood on his face and scent of defeat. He wasn't getting out of here alive. He sighed a last time and relaxed his other hand. Out, rolled a soft twinkling sound as it came to a stop beside Masumi's body.


End file.
